Ruthless Recommendations- Good Horror Films now Available for streaming on Netflix/Amazon/YouTube

It’s that time of the year for horror marathons, and for the obligatory recommendations article. Here’s is the Ruthless suggestion list.

First of all, I’m leaving out all the really famous films from this list- The Shining, Silence of the Lambs, Rosemary’s Baby. These are the films that you may not have heard of, some just slightly out of the mainstream, others very obscure. I’ve given them a quick rating on scariness and gore levels.

Let the Right One In. TL/DR: Young boy meets a girl vampire his age. TYPE: Vampire movie Scariness: 6/10. Gore: 6/10. A wonderful and original story of a vampire and her minion.

Pontypool– TL/DR: Radio station besieged by contagious insanity. TYPE: Zombie. Scariness: 7/10. Gore: 6/10. An interesting Canadian horror film about language, memes, and murder zombies.

The Host– TL/DR: Mutant monster menaces Seoul. TYPE: Sea monster. Scariness: 8/10. Gore: 5/10. JoonHo Bongs terrific, Spielbergian story that focuses on one family trying to make it through the rampage of a giant mutant monster.

The Nameless TL/DR: Detective investigates a missing girl. TYPE: Cult. Scariness: 8/10. Gore 6/10. A Spanish adaptation of a Ramsay Cambell story, Los Sin Nombre gets the genre of cosmic horror down better than almost any tentacle monster. You could call it the Spanish forerunner of True Detective.

The Babadook– TL/DR: Woman is haunted by a nightmarish children’s book, and the creature therein. TYPE: Evil spirit. Scariness: 8/10. Gore: 3/10. Ossie Davis does for mothers what Jack Nicholson did for dads in The Shining.

The Prophecy– TL/DR: Angels can be just as scary as demons. TYPE: Demons/satanic. Scariness: 5/10. Gore: 6/10. Christopher Walken is the archangel Gabriel- no more need be said.

Wes Cravens New Nightmare– TL,DR: Freddy Tries to break out of the film business. Scariness: 6/10. Gore 7/10. An important transition point in Wes Craven’s career, marking the border between the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise and the meta-horror of Scream.

The House on Haunted Hill (1959)- A fortune to whoever can spend a night in a haunted mansion. TYPE: Ghost. Scariness: 3/10 Gore 3/10. A Vincent Price classic that embodies the William Castle franchise- hokey, spooky, and very much a classic midnight movie.

Black Sunday– TL/DR: A witch seeks revenge on the descendants of her killers. TYPE: Witch. Scariness: 4/10. Gore 5/10. A Mario Bava classic of old school Gothic horror.

The Lord of Illusions– TL/DR: A famous stage magician is actually a magician, and the devil is calling for his due. TYPE: Witch. Scariness: 6/10. Gore 9/10. I am amazed that this Clive Barker adapation isnt widely recognized as an Urban Fantasy classic, a precursor of Harry Dresden/Mage/Constantine etc.

The Keep– TL/DR: Indiana Jones ain’t around to save these Nazi archaeologists. TYPE: Demon. Scariness 6/10. Gore 6/10. Michael Mann’s horror film is stylish and chock full of fascinating ideas, but suffers from in-coherency.

I Saw the Devil- TL/DR: Secret agent becomes a monster to get at a child killer. Scariness: 8/10, Gore 10/10. The most tense and nerve fraying Korean thriller, a Korean equal to Takashi Miikes Audition.

Near Dark– TL/DR: Vampire nomads rampage across the Midwest. TYPE: Vampire. Scariness: 6/10. Gore: 9/10. Kathryn Bigelows 1980s vampire film re-invented the modern concept of the vampire. Without this, there would have been no True Blood.

Ginger Snaps– TL/DR: Lycanthropy as a metaphor for female adolescence. TYPE: Werewolf. Scariness: 7/10. Gore: 10/10. The best werewolf movie, because it really explores the psychological themes that make the werewolf legend work.